British triple jumper Phillips Idowu won his specialist event with a leap of 17.52m (wind-assisted) in Bydgoszcz on Friday.

Poland’s Adam Kszczot, the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 800m gold medallist, got this year’s European Athletics Outdoor Premium Meetings off to a flying start when he ran a European-leading time of 1:44.30 on home soil in Bydgoszcz on Friday. 

It was a personal best for the 21-year-old middle distance runner and also a European Athletics Festival / Enea Cup meeting record.

“I'm still in the process of building up for the season but I’m in good shape, as you can see. Of course, I hope for even better performances in the second half of the season,” said the delighted Kszczot.

“The plan for today was just to get the best result possible and this I did. It is the culmination of a lot of hard work; and to get a personal best in the Polish stadium, with the Polish audience, what more could you want?”

Chasing him to the line was his local rival and 2010 European Athletics Championships gold medallist Marcin Lewandowski who finished second in 1:44.61.

“I am surprised that it’s such a good result. I have not done specific speed work fort this season yet. The more I think about it, the better is the time. This bodes well for the rest of the season,” reflected Lewandowski.

Great Britain’s triple jump star Phillips Idowu, the current world and European outdoor champion, won his specialist event with a wind-assisted leap of 17.52m in the second round of the competition.

For good measure, he also had a legal effort of 17.32m two rounds later.

Russia’s 2010 World Junior Championships gold medallist Aleksey Fyodorov was second with a wind-assisted 16.91m while Poland’s Karol Hoffman, who celebrated his 22nd birthday on Thursday, got third place with a windy 16.87m on his last attempt. The son of the 1983 World Championships gold medallist Zdzislaw Hoffman, also got a legal personal best of 16.33m earlier in his series.

Ukraine’s 2010 European Athletics Championships silver medallist Maksim Mazuryk won the pole vault with 5.72m before having three failures at 5.87m. Russia’s Alexandr Gripich, fifth at the 2009 World Championships, was second with 5.52m.

There were also some good performances in the throws with Belarus shot putter Pavel Lyzhyn taking the honours in his specialist event with 20.43m.

Hungary’s 2010 European Athletics Championships hammer bronze medallist Krisztian Pars threw 78.41m in the fifth round to prevail over Germany’s Markus Esser, who had thrown 78.22m in the second round but couldn’t go any further.

In women events, Romania’s Roxana Bircu set a personal best of 8:56.79 when winning the 3000m.

Poland’s Angelika Cichocka won the 800m in 2:01.60 while her 21-year-old compatriot Weronika Wedler sped to a 200m victory in 23.28, albeit with a 2.3mps breeze behind her.

There was also a good win in the 400m hurdles by Ukraine’s Anastasiya Rabchenyuk, who clocked 55.54 and another Ukrainian victory was achieved by Kateryna Karsak in the discus, throwing a meeting record of 63.52m.

Lithuania’s Zinaida Sendriute finished second with a personal best of 62.00m.

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